Author: thependulumswings staff

Brees’ Passing

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

The BBR staff is off today as we celebrate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King and his too soon, unfortunate passing.

Some also are mourning the unfortunate passing of Drew Brees last evening.  No, he is still very much alive.  It’s his right arm that isn’t with us any longer.

It was a great run.  But it’s time, says Father Time.

Century to date only the man that beat him yesterday, Tom Brady, has had a clear-cut better run.  Peyton Manning might have a strong argument, too.  And with how Aaron Rogers is playing his body of work might soon pass Brees as well.

Brees will be remembered on the field for what was and was not.

What was, was a statistical rewrite of the QB passing record books.  He’s the career leader in passing rating, completion percentage, total yards, touchdowns, and a few other significant measures.  He won nearly two handfuls of playoff games and one Super Bowl.

What wasn’t, was more Super Bowls than one.  History judges QBs with two or more Super Bowl wins on a different level.  It’s almost as if “you did it once, now prove that wasn’t a one time deal.”  For Brees and for Sean Payton (so far) it is a one time deal.

And, Payton, who has had a magnificent run with the New Orleans Saints franchise, does and should get credit for molding the team’s run of success.

But Payton must shoulder blame that the run has so far stopped at one.  From 2012-2016 he failed to field a defense to match his high octane offense.  From 2017 till now they’ve greatly underachieved come playoff time.  Last year they didn’t have enough skill position weapons around Drew but had a salty defense.  This year Payton basically played the same hand and got the same results.

Off of the field, Brees has been a tremendous asset in the community.  The kneel/no kneel controversy aside, his foundation, charity work, and business ventures have helped hundreds and employed hundreds more.

He said after the game that he would take some time to decide if “this was it.”  But, minutes before he had tears in his eyes for a reason while walking off of the Superdome’s floor.

Next year he’ll take a seat in the NBC broadcasting booth.

And, in five years a spot in Canton will have his name on it.  After all, as Dr. King once said, “the time is always right to do the right thing.”

 

 

Abby Takes Down the NFL

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Abby was taking some grief down at the doggie parlor yesterday morning.   Enough already, she barked.  Growing tired of getting hounded about her refusal to allow her expertise in NCAA football to bare its teeth in the NFL, she relented.

So, with her winter coat coiffed just so, here are the picks that you can bank that will make your stimulus check look like the measly dog treat that it is.

LA Rams at Green Bay -6 and 1/2–  The most important benefit to getting the no. one seed in the NFL playoffs is actually two-fold.  One, at the most important time you get a week off to heal your aching bones.  Two, you get to stay home and tackle a team that just laid it all out there the week before and now must travel.  The Rams have the best D in the NFL.  The Packers statistically have the best O.  In these days and times great O beats great D, especially if it’s on the frozen tundra.

          Baltimore + 2 and 1/2 at Buffalo – Buffalo will be a tough home team out.  They’re more talented 1-45 than most people realize.  And, they are having fun and playing loose.  Abby says that Lamar Jackson will make just one more big play than Josh Allen.

          Cleveland +10 at Kansas City – No one believes in the Browns except their fans.   The Chiefs’ last six games have been decided by 6 points or less.  They’ve won all six.  Cleveland is playing much like Buffalo.  They’re having fun.  Ole’ Andy Reid will dial up a special play for Mahomes and the Browns will lose a heartbreaker to add to the lore of being the Browns, but expect a cover.  Double-digit NFL dogs have a way of doing that.

Tampa Bay v New Orleans -3 –  It’s well-known that the Saints view this year as Super Bowl or bust.  They haven’t lived up to their season-long excellence in the last three years in bad playoff losses.  The Bucs are playing better than they have all year and it’s tough to beat a team three times in one year as the Saints will need to do.  It’s also tough to beat Tom Brady.  But, this is Brees’ last year and the Saints D will gift wrap him a win late.

As a public service announcement please know that Abby wore a mask and socially distanced at all times at the parlor.

 

 

Double Drivel

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

In Washington DC, the second impeachment of Donald J Trump has many implications.

For one, and especially if convicted by the Senate, it quelled any hopes for four more years in four more years for the petulant child.  But, in reality, that ended when Biden was elected and was reassured when the first pane of window glass was shattered by the ingrates who illegally entered the Capitol Building.

In Houston, the trade of James Harden has many implications.

For one, any hopes of a run to the NBA Finals went out of a very different window.  But, in reality, that ended when the petulant child stopped playing nice with his teammates and coaches.  It was reassured when he addressed the media Tuesday and told the Zoom assembled that his team wasn’t good enough to compete.

Donald Trump probably feels like he has given it his all in the last four years to Make America Great Again.  James Harden told us that he loves Houston and had done everything he could in his years here to make it great again as well.

Both love the environment.  Trump said he wants clean air and water.  Harden “makes it rain” almost nightly at a gentleman’s club of his choice.  But, we digress.

Trump feels like he carried so many incompetent people along for the ride that the task was burdensome and then some.  Harden said as much.

Trump fired people left and right along the way.

Harden forced head coaches to be fired and good to great players to be traded.

Trump is skipping the Biden Inauguration under the guise of safety.  He wasn’t ever going and now he has a thinly veiled cover to conveniently use.

Harden is skipping off to Brooklyn.  He wasn’t even playing for Houston this year.  His uniform, while he was on the court, was a thinly veiled cover to receive a paycheck.

When times call for all of the surviving Presidents to gather such as funerals of dignitaries, etc. Trump won’t get an invitation.  He wouldn’t go even if he did.

When Houston has a reunion of great players Harden won’t get an invitation.  He wouldn’t go even if he did.

Trump accomplished a lot in four years.  Even his detractors have to admit as much whether they like what he accomplished or not.

Harden won scoring titles and “led” Houston deep into the playoffs a time or three.  Even his detractors admit that.

Neither understand that there is no “I” in the word “team.”  Their egos walk through the door minutes before they do.

A meaningless basketball job has nothing in common with the most important job in the world.  It’s only ironic that one was asked to move on the same day that one was moved on.

But, if how you are remembered is important, these two have much in common.

And now America and Houston have spoken.  Don’t let the door hit you in the……

 

 

Focus on the Process

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

When Nick Saban won his first NCAA National Championship in 2003 he did so with a defense that held a potent Oklahoma offense to 14 points while his LSU Tigers put up 21.  Seven of those 21 points scored were by his defense as DL Marcus Spears dropped into coverage, picked a hot route, and picked up seven on a rumble into the end zone.

Game by game in the season’s 14 games (one loss) Saban’s defense surrendered 7,13,7,10,6,19,7,7,10,3,14,24,13, and 14.  That’s 154 in all and an average of 11 per game.

Last evening Nick Saban won his seventh championship, the last six all with Alabama.  No one has won more championships in NCAA history.  In this one, his offense put up 52 and his defense gave up 24 to Ohio St.

Game by game in this season’s 13 games (all wins) Saban’s offense scored 38,52,63,41,48,41,63,42,55,52,52,31, and 52.  That’s 640 in all and an average of 49 per game.

Maybe you don’t think the game is changed.  “Defense wins championships,” you say.  The run-pass option(RPO) with an athletic QB and the spread offense with the same has indeed changed the game.

And, Saban realized this.  “It used to be that good defense beats a good offense. Good defense doesn’t beat good offense anymore,” Saban told ESPN last October 23rd.   “It’s just like last week. Georgia has as good a defense as we do an offense, and we scored 41 points on them [in a 41-24 Alabama win]. That’s not the way it used to be. It used to be if you had a good defense, other people weren’t going to score. You were always going to be in the game.”

“I’m telling you. It ain’t that way anymore.”

He adapted.  And, quickly.  Expect Bama to have four first-round players taken in the 2021 NFL draft.  All will be on offense.  Just three years ago they had four as well.  Three were on defense.

Years ago Bum Phillips said, “Don Shula could take his’ums and be your’ums, then he could take your’ums and be his’ums.”  He could have been speaking about Saban as well.

Give Sarkesian credit.  He maximized great offensive talent with beautiful, year-long scheming.  Give Kiffin credit.  Before Sarkesian he did the same.  But, give Saban the credit as he had the foresight to recruit fast cars with great turning radius’ and hand the keys over on offense to paid professional drivers.

Seven championships in the last 17 years make Saban the best ever.  But, how long can he keep the dynasty rolling?  His 2021 recruiting class, when it’s complete in February, will record the highest cumulative rating ever assigned by the major services that track these kids.  It’s going to be hard to slow the Tide’s roll.

Oh, and his coaching tree looks like a forest.  But, he keeps hiring winner after winner to his staff as well.  What’s the one constant through it all?  Nick Saban.

His uncle Lou Saban was still coaching in Division II when he passed at 82.  Yes, nothing is forever, but Saban will likely adapt and figure out that Father Time problem as well.

How?  It’s because he is forever preaching “focus on the process and the results will take care of themselves.”

And, his results speak for themselves.

 

 

 

Do Not Pass Go

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

“Other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how was the rest of the play?”

The fallout continues from the storming of the Capitol Building last Thursday.  And it accelerates.  The siege didn’t last very long, but the damage in so many ways was done.

And, the door to reshaping America has blown more wide open than the courtesy shown by the Capitol Police to the not so peaceful of the mostly peaceful protesters.

Cancel culture is evolving like a revolving door that lost power.  Have you ever been in one when it came to a complete stop?  You try not to smash your face against the suddenly stationary glass.  Good luck.

Do you remember the decibel level of the media when an Oregon baker refused to make a cake for a same-sex couple wedding?  That was when the media deemed it so wrong for a private business to selectively not serve a willing paying customer.

Chick-Fil-a still doesn’t open on Sundays, but it takes some damn fine chicken to survive the cancel attempts of the culture of today.

Parler might be in the deep fry, however.   Surely you heard of them?  They are (or were) trying to build a Twitter-like platform for the right.   Amazon, Google, and Apple collectively pulled the virtual rug out from under Parler.

Every vendor for texting and email services and even their lawyers ditched them.  Poof!  It can be awfully dark on Al Gore’s internet in so many ways.

If you have no server, no app, and no search engine result, you have no social media business.  It’s pretty simple.  And, it should be pretty scary to all.

The PGA has had it with Trump too.   They exercised their right to cancel their agreement to play the 2022 PGA Championship at Trump Bedminister, one of his courses.  It’s their right after all.

Major corporations are running, not walking away, from members of Congress who voted against ratifying the electoral college results.  Some have stopped political contributions altogether.  And, altogether that might not be a bad idea.

BBR has long supported a business’s right to refuse service for any reason(s) including religious beliefs but not on prejudices.

Hate Trump all you want.  Hate the right all you want.  Hell, impeach him for a second time if you want.  But, we better start pointing some vitriol and arrows at big tech and now.

The monopolies that they have and the power that they wield should scare us all.   Try working your way down the fourth side of the Monopoly Board.  Pacific, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Park, and Boardwalk are all very expensive if you land on any one of them.

The war on free speech makes the storming of the Capitol look like a bunch of misguided, misfit amateurs, oogled on by a sore loser, which it was.  And both should scare all.

The right to burn the American flag has long been ruled as guaranteed freedom of expression.

You don’t have to like it.  You just need to respect it.

The same should go for freedom of speech.

 

(In)Civility

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

The roads that lead to the corner of civility and incivility are but a few steps apart from one another.

Was yesterday’s mostly peaceful protest march that started just steps from the White House and ended up the steps of the Capitol Building a new low? Not at all.  The First Amendment guarantees it.  But.

Was the lowest of lows reached when a subset of the group invaded the hallowed halls of the Congress by breaking windows, brandishing a few guns, and carrying out artifacts from their conquest?  We can hope.  Or, we can do more than hope.

Trump was elected as the ultimate outsider and built his momentum by condemning all that Washington is (drain the swamp) and all that reported favorably on it (the fake news folks).  His base loved(loves) the idea.  His fringe zealots crossed a line that heretofore may have never been crossed before.  And, where the hell was the police?

We all had to feel violated.  The White House and the Capitol Building are more than architectural masterpieces.  They’re our home and our workplace.  They are uniquely Americas to cherish.   They are the envy of the world for what they symbolize or did symbolize.  Freedom.

But maybe, just maybe we’ve taken these freedoms a bit too far.  And, like it or not that goes for both sides.  We’d rather argue and stand our ground on every item of our agendas no matter how big or small.  “Leaders” would rather tear up a speech behind the President’s back than meet with him face to face to try to advance the quality of the American way of life.

If you protest longer, yell louder, destroy more, burn hotter, and loot till you can’t carry anymore loot maybe you’ll be heard.  Or, maybe you’ll be ignored and despised. Kill a few cops while you’re at it too.  Feed your base and your fringe will carry your water.

If you claim repeatedly, and petulantly, and incorrectly that the election that you lost was really one that you won in a landslide somebody will believe you and you can still sit in the wooden chair in the Oval Office.  Feed your base and your fringe will carry your water.

Yesterday the Boston Celtics and the Miami Heat issued a joint statement prior to their game.  “2021 is a new year, but some things have not changed,” the statement read. “We play tonight’s game with a heavy heart after yesterday’s decision in Kenosha, and knowing that protesters in our nation’s capital are treated differently by political leaders depending on what side of certain issues they are on. The drastic difference between the way protesters this past spring and summer were treated and the encouragement given to today’s protestors who acted illegally just shows how much more work we have to do.

You might have missed the news(understandably) that no Kenosha officers were charged in the Jacob Blake shooting that left him paralyzed.   They weren’t charged because eyewitness and video accounts showed the repeat offender of the law carrying an open knife disobeying the lawmen who feared for their lives.    Why would you have a heavy heart about that?  Nevermind that Kenosha was burned down as it doesn’t fit the narrative.

The Celtics and the Heat then knelt together pregame protesting the Washington protest.

What’s next?  Could some group protest a protest of a protest?

What Trump said to his supporters was wrong.  What they did inside of the Capitol Building was criminal.

When the peaceful protesters in the summer of love burned down the Minneapolis Police Precinct Three Station it was wrong and it was criminal as well.

Two wrongs don’t make a right.  And ten wrongs don’t make five rights.

Yesterday wasn’t a civil war, but it was far from civil.  But, if we keep justifying lower lows of uncivil behavior we’ll get there.

In less than two weeks President-Elect Joe Biden will take the oath of office on the same steps that the protesters occupied for hours yesterday.

Donald Trump issued a statement last night saying that the transition would be orderly.  He’s a funny guy.

Joe Biden said he was running for office because “the soul of the nation was at stake.”

It sure seems so.

 

 

Tic Toc Goes the Clock

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

In 2009 newly elected and inaugurated President Barrack Obama told Republican Congressional leadership that “elections have consequences.”  And, indeed they do.

In 2017 newly elected and inaugurated President Donald Trump told America that “we are going to win, win, win.  We’re going to win so much that you’re going to get tired of winning.”  And, apparently, indeed America did tire.

With one seat still undecided in Georgia this AM, the Democrats are so close to their own win, win, win.  They have a slim majority in the House, they won (stole say some who remain in denial) the Presidency, and they are on the doorstep of the slimmest of margins in the Senate.

In 2009 when the Democrats last controlled all three, Obamacare was born. It turned healthcare into a right, not a need, for all practical purposes.

But remember, “if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.”  Well, not really, but we digress.

So, assuming Georgia delivers two peaches to the Senate from yesterday’s runoffs, what “consequence” or “consequences” will they deliver? The world is their oyster thanks to the presumptive peaches.

Well, what’s on the menu?  Is Washington DC headed for statehood?  Are higher corporate taxes on the way?  Surely there is some further social and justice reform coming.

How about more black robes for more black Supreme Court justices.  Nine is such an odd number anyway.  How about a lucky 13?

And, it’s cold (too cold) outside now, but it’ll soon be warm (too warm) this spring.  Climate change needs to change.  And, all of those windmills that you’ll soon see won’t cool us down enough.   The car battery business is very good, and it just got better.

And, finally, Twitter’s “disputed claims” department can reassign a few workers.

Or, will the Democrats have trouble group ordering from the menu?  Can’t decide?  It’s happened before.  Can’t share?  It’s happened before.   It happened in 2009.  Indigestion and heartburn aren’t ever far away if one gets gluttonous.

Two years seems so far away.  But, in two years could the Republicans recover from so much winning and whining and take back the House?  The Senate?  Both?

Sure they can.  The pendulum always swings.  At least it always has.  Obama found out the hard way in late 2010 just as Reagan did back in 1982.

Stacking on two more Senators by granting statehood to DC would make the Senate tough.  But, don’t forget that politics is always local, and the “on the ground” House seats that the elephants gained in November is a modest but significant move countrywide that could make landfall in the Capital as early as 2022.

As for the now?  One of our staff members fielded a question from his soon to be 32-year-old son this AM.  “Now what do we do, dad?” the young businessman asked.  “Go to work, son,” came the reply we’re told.

While two years seems like an eternity to reshape America, it’s but a New York minute in our history.

And, the clock never stops ticking.

 

Perception v. Reality

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

The 2021 College Football Playoff National Championship is a week from this evening in Miami.  We’re down to two teams.  It’s going to be a dandy.  It’s Perception vs Reality.

In the semifinals, perception and reality collided as well.  We questioned if Notre Dame even belonged.  We questioned why Ohio St. even got the chance as eight-point underdogs to Clemson.

We had a perception of how 2020 was going to be as well.  How did that turn out?

Notre Dame seeded fourth lost by 17 to one-seeded Alabama.  Second seed Clemson lost by 21 to the third-seeded Ohio St.  So, based on results, if ND didn’t belong, did Clemson?

Dabo Swinney spent the post-game trying to explain why his defense was shredded for nearly half a hundred points and over 700 yards.  He told the world that he needed to better prepare his team.  In other words, we were the better team, we just didn’t coach ’em up well enough.

Brian Kelly spent the post-game fielding question after question trying to explain why ND even deserved to be there after yet another beatdown in the final four, much less a major bowl.  As they say in the finance world, past performance is no indication of future results.  Or, is it?

Ah, there it is.  Dabo’s Tigers have won it all or at least the semi in the recent past time and again.  Kelly’s Irish have fallen like St. Pat’s Day Irishman walking out of the local pub yet again.

It’s perception v reality.  We perceived Clemson belonged.  We knew ND didn’t.  One gets a pass while it’s getting pounded in the semis.  The other gets pounded for getting a pass into the semis.

What about an eight-team playoff you say?  The average margin of victory in the seven years of the playoffs in the semis is 24 points per blowout.  If the semi losers can’t hang with the finalists, what makes you think the next four in would be any better?  Perception does.

Put the five Power 5 conference champs in, one independent, and two deserving wild cards you say?

The ACC went 0-6 in bowl games. What makes any conference champs deserving?   Perception does.

But, Ohio St. didn’t win enough games to get in.  Hmm.  Clemson beat a bunch of also-rans in seems.  Hmm.

One independent?  This sounds like a nod to ND all over again.  And, why only one?  Or, why any?

Two wild card teams?  Sure.  It’s what you have now, but you’re adding two more.  Good luck to them.

Hey, why not an inclusive minority entrant every year as well?  We digress.  Yellow ribbons for all.  And, again.

“Team X would have given ND a better game!”  Good thing it’s Monday, cause that’s Monday morning quarterbacking with your eyeballs.  Did those same eyeballs think Clemson was better than Ohio St.?  Reality check.

Texas A&M deserved to be in.   They didn’t win a conference.  They got worked by Bama.  But, didn’t everybody?  It’s your perception once again.  If you go undefeated in the regular season you remove any doubt.

Unless you are Cincinnatti, that is.  “Cincinnati deserved to be in.”  Did they beat a bunch of also-rans, too?  The committee’s perception said as much.  And, a loss to two-loss Georgia, no matter how well played, is a loss.

Kirk Herbstreit said, “Nobody would want to be playing Oklahoma right now!”  That might be true.  But to get there you have to win games in September just like November.   And, if ND gets pummeled for past performance how about Oklahoma?  They’re 0-3 in the playoffs, including a 63-28 shellacking by LSU last year.

Bring back the computerized BCS system.  Its only bias is the perception of its programmers.  To think just a few years back sportswriters actually wrote, “we have to get rid of this computer system, it has no idea who the best teams on the field are.”

Come Monday night Perception (Bama) is favored over Reality (Ohio St) by 8.  You know Bama is the best team, don’t you?

The reality is that Vegas builds big hotels with fancy marble, fountains, and statues.  They use our perceptions as the foundation.

 

 

 

 

2021-Part II

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

We asked yesterday.  Who could have predicted that 2020 would bring us so many 12 to 6 curve balls and 95 MPH knee-high outside corner strikes?  No one could actually.

Who could know what 2021 could possibly have in store for us in the sports and news world?  Well, BBR of course.

And we delivered our foresight on the first six months.  Today take a look at the second half of the 12-month journey below.

You’ll be glad you did and then let the champagne flow.

July-  Jimmy Fallon celebrates the Fourth by drinking a fifth on The Tonight Show.  NBC fires him on the sixth.  Courtside, Hunter Biden watches the NBA Finals held in China for the first time ever.  LeBron is named MVP of the series, retires, and is named US Diplomat to China.  Joe Biden calls and jubilantly  congratulates “LeBron and his Cleveland 49ers on the championship.”

August-  Trump’s Agent Orange TV show is canceled due to low ratings.  Trump calls it fake news and demands a recount of the viewership.  The dog days of summer roll on with record highs in the California desert reaching 127 degrees.  Gavin Newsom, poolside from his villa in Cabo, issues a mandate for all Californians to stay indoors till 2022.  President Biden announces that he and Dr. Jill are headed to “Margaret’s Vineyard” for a well-earned summer getaway.   Mark Zuckerberg creates a Facebook spinoff soon to IPO called Shitfacedbook aimed at the inebriated crowd.

September-  President Biden is hospitalized briefly after his ninth Covid vaccination.  He forgot about getting the first eight.  A lasting side effect seems to be that his face has turned pale green.  AOC proposes that the 95 trillion dollar Green New Deal be renamed in Biden’s honor.  The Senate sends a bill to Biden recommending that Labor Day no longer be recognized as it’s prejudicial against the unemployed.  The NFL kicks off another season with no kickoffs now a rule-safety first.

October- Dr. Fauci declares that the NFL face mask screwed on the helmet might help prevent the spread of Covid or might not.  Jacksonville QB Trevor Lawrence throws for 345 yards as the Jaguars beat the KC Chiefs in London 37-17.  The hit TV series Yellowstone passes the 200th killing mark in one year in a very rural community milestone.  Nancy Pelosi’s fifth facelift is free thanks to the “buy four, get one free” promo at Dr. 90210.

November- The Smithsonian gets the very last necktie ever for sale at Macy’s.  It’s put on display on a male mannequin in a phone booth smoking a Camel.  Tesla’s stock price hits $3000 a share, up a paltry 500% from 2020.  Scientists warn that Apple watches can cause cancer (and break legs) in lab rats when worn for over 12 hours a day.   The Dog Pound in Cleveland is rabid as the Browns head to December 12-0.

December- The Army beats Navy 28-3 to complete a 12-0 season but is left out of the FBS playoffs.   Hunter Biden is rushed to the emergency room after attempting to snort a hot marshmallow around the campfire at Camp David.  Joe Biden thanks Doc Martens for the successful extraction and reiterates to the press how proud he and his wife “Dr. Jane” are of their son.     Tampa Bay finishes 7-9 and cites Tom Brady’s time away from the team filming AARP commercials in season as a distraction.  Covid is no more, but Santa is pulled over and cited for not wearing a mask while flying over Cuomo’s New York.

2020 is no more.  2021 will soar.

Thanks for being a part of BBR.

Happy New Year!!!

 

 

2021

Posted on by thependulumswings staff

Who could have predicted that 2020 would bring us so many 12 to 6 curve balls and 95 MPH knee-high outside corner strikes?  No one could actually.

Who could know what 2021 could possibly have in store for us in the sports and news world?  Well, BBR of course.

Take the first six months of the 12-month journey below.  You’ll be glad you did and then let the champagne flow.

January-  Alabama beats Clemson 45-28 and a masked Nick Saban hoists his 23rd or so FBS trophy, each as tall as he is.  The Kansas City Chiefs make it two Super Bowls in a row beating the New Orleans Saints 38-35 in overtime on a 61-yard field goal.  Joe Biden gets sworn into the highest office in the land while mistakenly placing his left hand on the bible.  Donald Trump, the most outgoing President ever, becomes the first outgoing President to not attend the inauguration.

February- To kick off Black History Month President Biden, by executive order, renames the White House the Black House.  A new civil rights organization, Tall Lives Matter, is formed and takes over four square blocks near the house, and names the area Shaq.  Dr. Fauci opines that the next pandemic could be far worse than this past one, or it might never come.

March- The stock market dives from its all-time high of 33,321 to test the March 23, 2020 lows of 18,321.  President Biden calls it March Madness and the greatest buying opportunity of his 103 years.  He proposes that the government buy Apple for 3 trillion dollars, rename it Ring My Bell, and promises free phones for all.  Donald Trump gets his own TV talk show named Agent Orange.

April- Gonzaga finishes 33-0 and wins the real March Madness tournament.  They cut down the nets sans masks forcing them to forfeit their trophy and 2 scholarships for 2022.  The Ways and Means Committee eliminates April 15 as the tax deadline effectively allowing you to pay your taxes when you wish and if you wish.  A bill on the Senate floor to rename America as Neverland is narrowly defeated 51-49.

May- Biden mistakenly signs his name on the new healthcare act as President Harris.  Mitch McConnell gets new glasses sponsored by Coca Cola. They are affectionately known as Bottoms Up.  Ghislaine Maxwell, under oath, swears that William Jefferson Clinton was such a frequent guest on Epstein’s island that they named the slip and slide into the pool after him-Slick Willie.  A race track star is born as Pie O My III wins the Kentucky Derby by 12 lengths.

June- The earliest hurricane ever recorded slams Washington, DC and it takes nearly three full weeks to drain the swamp.  The San Diego Padres win their 17th game in a row to take a commanding 12 game lead in the NL West.   George Springer hits his 27th dinger for the NY Mets.  Joe Biden, by executive order, deems 1-3 PM Monday through Friday in the Black House as nap time.  The stock market hits an all-time high of 33,666.

Tomorrow we’ll see what the second half of 2021 has in store for us.